I'm really interested in the world's politics, economics, current affairs etc but I find it very difficult to find a proper website that features articles on international issues AND focuses on the BIG PICTURE of what's going on - along with good coverage of the history of that particular topic. Allow me to illustrate using a few examples.

I don't know if it's just me or something, but I find the layout of guardian.co.uk/world rather confusing. TIME on the other hand have started posting "featured" articles that require membership access, and quite often articles there are rather stupid (e.g. 50 things you didn't know about spongebob squarepants, Is the world ending?, Burma's T-Shirt Trade etc etc). The Economist thinks they are so smart that countries should do what they think needs done - so egotistical that I can't bear to continue reading despite some of their articles are indeed well written.

What I mean with "news sites that focuses on the big picture" are sites that show us the big picture of what's going on/might happen between the two countries (e.g. Diplomacy between Afghan and America) because of this particular incident. Bombings on the other side of the world, killing dozens of people are indeed disheartening, but reading articles like those don't help me analyse the big picture. What I look for are the impact of this incident on the bigger issues and what previous incidents that lead to this event (etc).

I like New York Times Topics very much, and I also visit ForeignPolicy.com and Guardian's Comment is Free rather often. My main source of news is still Guardian, but I'm sure there's a better site out there somewhere.

Try reading the press of different countries (there are also English-language versions of many foreign newspapers/newspaper websites) to get a better idea of what people think about the same issues around the world.

(Original post by Polygoof)
Try reading the press of different countries.

This, I read the Financial Times, Коммерса́нтъ, Le Figaro, Le Monde, the Moscow Times, the New York Times and the Telegraph, it basically covers France, UK and US news with views on worldwide stories on a lot of stuff... if I had more time, I'd read more

To be honest it is better to read localised news rather than the local news with an international pov.

I love english language Al Jazeera for coverage of the middle east, and usually more cynical coverage of the west which is useful to burst the bubble. The Economist is also pretty good on world news, I get the magazine, though, not sure how good the website is.

Read a variety of sources and try to read between the lines, learn what the real story is. As you read so many sources, it shouldn't be too hard to separate fact from fiction which are often conflated. I'd urge people to read foreign news. The FT is probably the least biased this side of the world, but it's short and to the point.

You can also refer to modern thinkers for the big picture, such as Noam Chomski.

(Original post by silent ninja)
Read a variety of sources and try to read between the lines, learn what the real story is. As you read so many sources, it shouldn't be too hard to separate fact from fiction which are often conflated. I'd urge people to read foreign news. The FT is probably the least biased this side of the world, but it's short and to the point.

You can also refer to modern thinkers for the big picture, such as Noam Chomski.

Well I know A.C. Grayling, and that's almost it. I like Fareed Zakaria's articles too. Very nicely written.

Please don't hate me for saying this, but how good is The Independent? I always step away from their articles because I notice my friends share a lot of their silly articles (names of which I have forgotten, but as a fellow facebook user I'm sure you've stumbled upon a few). That gives me a negative impression on their articles.

(Original post by johnconnor92)
Please don't hate me for saying this, but how good is The Independent? I always step away from their articles because I notice my friends share a lot of their silly articles (names of which I have forgotten, but as a fellow facebook user I'm sure you've stumbled upon a few). That gives me a negative impression on their articles.

Can anyone please correct my misconception - if it's indeed false?

If im correct, The Independent is on par with The Guardian. So yeah, pretty reliable.

(Original post by johnconnor92)
Please don't hate me for saying this, but how good is The Independent? I always step away from their articles because I notice my friends share a lot of their silly articles (names of which I have forgotten, but as a fellow facebook user I'm sure you've stumbled upon a few). That gives me a negative impression on their articles.

Can anyone please correct my misconception - if it's indeed false?

Some are pretty good. Obviously they have a few crappy articles but so do all news sites. Its what I like about Twitter, you can easily scroll past the crap ones and find the good ones.